"The Girl with the Hungry Eyes" Summary
The story, “The Girl with the Hungry Eyes,” is about a vampire, referred to as the Girl, who feeds on the attention of vulnerable men. She is utterly aloof, reveals nothing about her past, and uses her mysterious display to draw attention to herself. The Girl is one who lives by preying on others, and exploits and ruins the lives of men.The victim in this story, the photographer, realizes this too late. Throughout Leiber’s short story, the Girl continually subverts her vampiric identity in order to feed on people via the advertisements in which she appears.
An advertisement of the Girl seducing vulnerable men.
There are multiple “maybe” murders that occur in this story because no one could figure out how the men had been killed. The main character questions the Girl multiple times by the way she acts. On one occasion when one of the photographer’s friends is in his studio because of his obsession with her, the Girl senses his presence and demands he leaves. The photographer is intrigued by the Girl from the way she talks and how she presents herself when she is with him. He becomes very attracted to her, but she tells him to never follow her when she goes home. He questions this and is confused by the insistence of her only wanting to work just the two of them. However, the photographer is making money off of her hand over fist, but the temptation to be with her outside of the studio becomes greater and greater, even if it means the end of the gravy train.The story ends with him trying to make a move on the Girl. He realizes sex is not what she wants, she wants his high spots, everything that’s made him happy and everything that has hurt him bad. She ends by saying she wants his want of wanting me, and that she wants his life. The photographer breaks free, running, and never sees the Girl ever again.